The use of safety belt systems made up of a lap belt and shoulder belt for releasably restraining a person in the seat of a transport vehicle is well known. Use of such a restraining system is mandated by law for automobile vehicles.
These safety belt systems are made to fit adult size people and designed to provide protection for the adult in case of an automobile accident. Young people, particularly infants younger than about 6 years of age, do not fit into these safety belt systems properly and thus, even when used for these youngsters the safety belts do not provide the intended protection in case of an accident.
To overcome this problem, smaller contoured safety seats were developed which more closely fit young people in size. These safety seats are secured to the standard vehicle seat and the youngster is secured within the seat by some type of restraints. These restraints are only marginally useful in protecting the occupant in case of an accident.
Various restraint devices have been disclosed but often the device has some shortcomings which results in the youngster not being fully protected in the case of a vehicle accident.
Cagle in U.S. Pat. No. 1,616,349 discloses a fabric bib-like device, for holding a baby upright, with a number of fasteners which secure to hooks fastened to the frame of a standard vehicle seat.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,908,324, Muller et al. disclose a seat vest jacket with front lap belt and connected shoulder straps. The vest is connected to a standard safety lap belt with fasteners on each end of the vest lap belt.
Vaughn et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,827,716 describe a safety vest which is permanently secured directly to a standard vehicle seat. When seated, a person secures the vest of his body by means of a strap. Also disclosed is an inflatable air bag on the front of the vest which inflates to protect the head of the passenger in the event of an accident.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,040 Gannac discloses a safety harness vest with reinforced belt and shoulder straps which fit over the torso of the wearer. A single dorsal attachment point located in the middle of the back of the vest secures the wearer within a vehicle.
Klich U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,914 describes a safety harness similar to that of Muller et al. which allows the child to recline on a vehicle seat.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,569 Potter discloses a jacket with lap belt and shoulder safety straps built in, and a fastening system which secures the wearer of the garment to a groove in the back of a standard vehicle seat.
In a recent U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,258, Coltrain discloses a vest-like garment with loops which attach the back of the vest to a standard seat belt system and secure a child within a vehicle.
Other patents of interest include Roberts et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,954,280; Mandracchia et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,607 and Cook U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,464.
All of these disclosed restraint systems have shortcomings in that they are cumbersome to put on, especially for children, and they fail to provide sufficient protection for the child should the vehicle in which the child is riding be involved in an accident.
It is an objective of this invention to protect a young person when riding in a transport vehicle in case of an accident.
It is also an objective to provide a system which is easy to put on a young person prior to entry into the vehicle, as well as being simple to releasably secure the young person to a seat when entering or exiting the vehicle.
Another objective of the invention is to provide a system which will accommodate children of various sizes, as well as long term use for one child as that child grows larger.
It is also an objective to provide a system which distributes the forces encountered in an accident over the entire torso of the young person to prevent internal injury.